Invitations (Part III)

stamping party at the Bottomses'

With such beautiful invitations in hand, we started trying to finalize the look and feel of the envelop we’d be sticking them in.  (This was where I think I lost my Dad and maybe even Javs.)  I started talking about stamps.  That’s right, stamps.  I wanted some fun quirky stamps to go with our paper bag invites and Ash Lawn wedding.   ‘They’ (whoever they are….) say that the invitation sets the tone for you wedding, so why not start right when our guests see the envelop in that stack of bills and advertisements.

I was in on the stamping fun too :)

Javier and I looked into buying some custom stamps on Zappos.com.  They were really cool, but so expensive (over twice what the normal stamp would cost…).  We had gone to the post office to have the invites weighed and knew it was going to be at least $0.85 to mail them (an extra $0.20 for the square shape and $0.20 for the weight).  With the custom option we could have ordered a $0.85 stamp exactly, but decided it wasn’t worth it in the end.  Instead, we started narrowing down current $0.45 USPS stamps to the ones we liked and thought fit our fall/outside/laid back/wedding feel J  It was actually Javier (even with his lack of concern regarding the stamp that would mail our invites…) that pushed for the adorable weathervane stamps that adorned your invite.  They were rustic and kind of fun!

I had been pushing for stamps that included some color because I was starting to worry that our neutral invites and white envelops would be too drab.  But I ended up finding the pop of color I was looking for when another bride suggested I look on ebay for some Virginia/Charlottesville related stamps.  And there he was….bright and green and totally fitting in with our plans.  I eagerly sent the link to Javs and asked if we could splurge to buy 200 one cent Thomas Jefferson stamps to add to our envelops.  (The perfect addition for a Charlottesville wedding!)  He sweetly obliged and even remarked ‘how cool’ they were as we licked each and positioned them on your invites J  I LOVED them and only commented 194862 times during our stuffing sessions how happy I was with our stamps (particularly TJ).

 In addition to stamps, we wanted to have the envelops addressed.  Javier and I both have the hand writing of a nine year old boy, but couldn’t rationalize spending $$ to have them professionally written.  Lucky for us, our friend (and talented designer) Kate offered to address our envelops as a wedding present to us.  Awesome!  I dropped off a sample of our invites (she got one of the awful, ink stained ones) and she sent some designs for the addresses.  We ended up going with a less traditional design that incorporated the font we were using for our own names on the invite.  With the design selected, Kate cranked out 130+ envelops for us….amid finishing up her job and packing for a move to Atlanta.  What a trooper!  Thanks again Kate, we’ve gotten so many compliments on the awesome calligraphy J

Stamps on, envelops addressed – we were ready to stuff!  But stuffing actually ended up bringing about two additions to our invites.  1) I decided I really did want to make envelop liners.  I loved our TJ stamps and thought a splash of green when you opened the envelop would tie everything together.  2) (speaking of tying) we decided that we wanted to tie our suite together so that when folks pulled out the invites, they stayed in one stack.  When designing them in photoshop we planned it so that you could stack each piece (invite, reception card and RSVP) and our little A&J would line up with each card label.  You just didn’t get the same effect pulling the cards out one by one.  SO a week later than planned, but with envelop liners and each suite tied, we sent the invites out on Saturday the 18^th (exactly 8 weeks from our wedding date!).  Even with a few snafus with the post office, they got mailed and you’ve received them J  I ended up being so happy with how they turned out!  I hope they made you smile (the tone I want set for October 13^th!)

This was the first post office we tried....do you think they're open?

(they weren't) but this one was!  Invitations sent :)

Invitations (Part II)

I left you hanging with my invitation dilemma: the invitation we selected and loved could not be worded the way we needed it to through mint.com.  It’s funny how time really does heal wounds and fades bad memories.  Still riding on the compliments we received for our saved the dates, I decided I could duplicate our beloved invitation in photoshop, where we could adjust the wording to be anything we wanted and have it printed professionally (for much cheaper).

Remember our adorable paper bag envelops?

So I got to work, surprised at how little I remembered from my save the date endeavor.  Having a ‘template’ to work off of meant less thought was needed (I was mostly trying to copy) but it also meant that I had a physical copy of the ‘perfect’ version which set my standards….high.  I ended up downloading a few free fonts from here to try to match the style and look on the invitation from mint.com.  We worked on several rounds and versions of the back ground of the invitation (part of the reason we picked these) to try to capture the same ‘paper bag’ feel of our Save the Date envelops.  With several pieces to our invite suite and a perfectionist behind the wheel, completion of the photoshop invites took forever days a while.  But when I was finally finished (and several folks had reviewed for typos) we confidently sent them off to the same printer that did our Save the Dates!

You’d think the rest of the story would be pretty short and sweet, but it seems our stories always have a few twists and turns before we reach the ‘sweet.’  We got our first proof back….and I wasn’t super happy.  The color seemed off and they had flipped the back of one of our pages.  We made some changes (particularly to the color) and resent files for a new proof.  New proof came (keep in mind several days are passing between the whole send files, get proof, redo).  It was better (although they left out one page of our suite) so we went ahead with the print!  Yay, 150 of these beauties headed our way.  They were due to arrive on Friday and we had a stuffing invite party planned in Richmond for the weekend with MOH Kels and GM Scottee.  The big box arrived!  And the invites were….awful.

There had clearly been an issue with the printer because our beautiful invites were splatter with ink.  L But a good thing also happened: I didn’t panic.  In fact, I never even thought about panicking (maybe I do have a shred of reason?).  Everyone thought I would freak out and I didn’t – which I am happily taking as a sign that I might have a chance at remaining cool, calm and collected should disaster strike on Oct 13^th.  (we’ll see…)  We called the printing company, explained the issue, sent some pictures for proof and were told they would reprint and send to us ASAP.  It meant our stuffing party was canceled and that the invites definitely weren’t being sent on Monday (the 13^th), but we still had time.  (‘They,’ whoever they are?, say you should send out invites 6-8 weeks out and the 13^th would have been just over 8 weeks).

And Monday morning, wouldn’t you know, but an identical box arrived at my office and this time, it contained beautiful invitations.  The brown looked brown and the white, white!  Nothing was flipped – they were perfect J 

PS – We’re at 50 days!  (I know I’m freaking out too)  A quick list of other accomplishments since our last count down check in…

- Weddings attended = 1 (It was gorgeous!  Some stuff I really liked: A) The bride was so happy.  Like, all night.  B) They labeled each item on their candy buffet as someone’s favorite, the bride’s the MOB’s, the groom’s, etc.  Was really fun (and creative)!  C)  They had two beer options and had a decent number of each already poured when we all walked up to the bar at cocktail hour.  That was smart.  D) They served BBQ.  It was delicious.

-Hair Stylist and Makeup Artist contracted! (My trial for both is September 2^nd so I’ll let you know how that goes!)

-Transportation - Javs and I booked a black sedan to come pick us up from Ash Lawn at the end of the night.  The ‘exit’ was never a big deal for me; there will be no sparklers and no professional photographers to capture that moment (which I’m okay with).  Maybe I’ll decide to have something sitting around for you guys to throw at us (cause who wouldn’t want to do that?).  Either way, now we know we got a ride home!  (Don’t worry, you guys do too, remember?)

-Suit – Javs bought one for the big day J

-Rehearsal – I bought a new dress J

-Readers – confirmed! (but still not readings)

-My wedding dress – confirmed its the right one J  I’ve scheduled my two fittings (since all my running means it needs to come in a bit – woop woop!)

-Javs survived his bachelor’s weekend

-I enjoyed my bridal shower J

-ORDERED WEDDING RINGS J

-Invitations – (duh) we’ve sent them!

Hopefully coming soon will be a slew of posts on all the DIY projects I’ve tackled and completed….hopefully.

Invitations (Part I)

Well, with word from many of our invitation’s safe delivery and even an RSVP or two, I think it’s officially time to share with you our invitation selection, creation and mailing journey.  Journey feels like the appropriate word because we’ve come a long way to get to here (where invitations have been mailed and received).  We tried to start earlier than we had for the Save the Dates because they had ended up feeling like such a rush. 

Reject invite (so if you like it better...
don't tell me)

Our first question became style.  What kind of invitations did Javier and I like?  We decided to start with a ‘professionally’ supervised visit to Paper Source.  We looked through those massive books they keep decoratively scatter on a table and learned what we liked:  more modern styled invitations, with interest created by different size and style fonts (rather than graphics or borders).  Great!  Seems easy enough.  Truthfully, most of what we liked seemed pretty simple to me; some fancy font here, and a little color there – and boom = invitation!  Right?

Another 'finalist' invite
turned reject...

Which brought us to our next question…..would we buy off the rack? Or could I create something we liked on my own?  Back in June we sent a few folks ‘6 finalists’ for our invitations.  They were a mix of Audrey designed invites and some found on mint.com.  We learned a few things after this email; when you ask for opinions, people usual provide them (crazy people…).  And when you ask 4+ people for opinions, you usually get 4 different opinions.  Everyone was super nice and included lots of ‘get what you want!’s, but I felt discouraged.  Javs and I had different favorites and I wasn’t convinced I liked any of the options after staring at them for so long…

I started over.  (ridiculous, I know. But I am ridiculous persistent.) I determined I really didn’t like the ones I had designed and succumb to the idea that I couldn’t do every (and that everything didn’t have to be personal and creative and thought up by me).  I ordered proofs for three brand new designs, thinking that seeing them in person might help us make a decision. 

the three proofs we received!

I guess my ‘in hand’ theory worked, because after we received the three proofs there was one that stood out.  I loved it.  Javier loved it.   It seemed to fit our simple, modern look and feel and matched perfectly with an outdoor, less-formal wedding.  Win!  Even better, I could easily return to the website, type our personal information into their designed windows and we’d have our invites in no time!  (Come on, that would have been too easy….)  You see, what I had failed to notice about our winning invite was the wording….it read:

Together with

Bride’s parents and Groom’s parents

BRIDE

&

GROOM

Want you to come to their wedding….you get the rest.

Well, Javier and I aren’t hosting the wedding.  (Trust me, if we were, it would be a lot different than it will be...and I don’t mean in a good way.)  Momma and Daddy-o Staps are footing the bill and hosting this awesome shin-dig, which meant the invitation needed to come from them….but when I tried to remove ‘Together with’….well I couldn’t.  And customer service confirmed for me that I never would be able to….oh.  Oh.  OH.  So we weren’t going to be ordering these easily customizable invitations after all.  But what were we gonna do?